U.S. Pat. No. 2,622,254 to Mendelson is directed to a carpet and/or floor cleaner, a hand powered device having a first tank mounted on the handle for supplying cleaner to the floor and a second tank on the handle to receive the waste fluid. The device has a carriage with means to apply cleaner to the floor, followed by rotating brushes, a squeegee and vacuum to pick-up waste fluid and a polishing roller. While adequate for its intended purpose, the waste tank must be unbolted from the handle for emptying or have a drain port for emptying into another container. Also, the operator must support the weight of the tanks on the handle when using the device, which can be tiring.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,036 to Rockwood et al. discloses a bowling lane cleaning device having a tank with conditioning fluid which is dispensed onto the bowling lane and applied by a buffer roller.
U.S Pat. No. 4,369,544 to Parisi discloses a machine to wash surfaces having a suction element in front, a front humidifier element, a sprayer and roller brushes, as well as a rear absorbing sheet and an intermediate dryer.
A bowling lane vacuum sweeper is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,138 to Ingermann et al. This device consists of a carriage extending laterally across the bowling lane and mounted on rollers for being manually pushed along the lane for removing cleaner and debris which has accumulated on the bowling alley. The device is provided with a floating vacuum head which sucks up the liquid cleaner and debris and deposits it in a tank which is provided within a housing containing the vacuum motor. In this device, the storage tank for the waste material is not removable but has a spigot which may be open so that the waste material can periodically be drained into a pail or other container for disposal. Although this device works satisfactorily for its intended, purpose it requires another device for applying the cleaner to the lane and the removal of the waste liquid is cumbersome and sometimes can be messy.
A device is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 371,295, filed Jun. 26, 1989 for "Automatic Vacuum Bowling Lane Stripper" by Ingermann et al., now U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,604 which has an automatic device which applies a liquid cleaner to the bowling lane and has a vacuum head for immediately sucking up the cleaning liquid, oil and other debris contained in the cleaner after it has been deposited on the lane. This waste liquid is deposited into a removable waste tank in a housing which forms a major portion of the bowling lane stripper. Periodically, the tank can be removed from the housing and the liquid therein disposed of in a suitable manner. This apparatus is also satisfactory for its intended purpose, but does not lend itself well to use on a hand operated bowling lane cleaning device. Furthermore, the tank for supplying the cleaner is not removable. If it is desired to drain this tank it must be done by opening a spigot and collecting the cleaner in a pail or other separate container.